MARQUETTE, Mich. (WZMQ) – To begin their search for a new president, today Northern Michigan University held a listening session to get feedback from students, faculty, and community members on what they want to see in a new president.
“Your input today will directly inform the board of trustees and the presidential search advisory committee as we define the qualifications and characteristics we seek in NMU’s next leader,” said Board of Trustees Vice Chair Melissa Holmquist.
The session’s organizer, Laurie Wilder, president of Parker Executive Search, which is helping NMU with the search process, said the session would help draft the job description that will inform the board and future candidates.
“It gives us a sense of what the community would like to see in candidates,” said Wilder. And then that helps us form that document, which will be sent out widespread across the country.”
One community member said it’s important for the new president to have a connection to the UP and to Marquette.
“There is no Northern without Marquette, there is no Marquette without Northern,” said the community member. “There has to be some sort of connection to the region, and if not connection at least knowledge.”
An NMU teacher said the new president, like Brock Tessman, should be prepared to listen to the faculty and students to help the university move forward.
“He wasn’t looking to impose his strategies or his priorities on us,” said the teacher. “What he was looking for is the ability to listen to what our community needed and help break down the walls to establish the strategy to move that work forward.”
An NMU department head said the new president needs to be prepared for the unique structure of NMU and its unique environment.
“We aren’t a normal university, and I think that’s a mistake if somebody comes here thinking they’re going to be president of even a regional comprehensive,” said NMU’s physics department head. “Because we’re more than that. We have a community college function embedded in us.”
NMU’s Vice President for Finance and Administration Gavin Leach has been appointed interim president and will continue to serve during the search for a permeant one.
